by GUYS, IT’S DAILY FOOTBALL
Previously described as “schoolyard stuff, mate” by Ange Postecoglou, the first recorded use of the term “Spursy” is unknown but is believed to date back around 11 years. The dictionary – well, Urban Dictionary – contains numerous entries describing the soft underbelly and lack of backbone that has characterized Tottenham teams for well over a decade. Students of its etymology believe it may have its origins in the three-word pre-match speech “Lads, it’s Tottenham” addressed to his Manchester United players by Sir Alex Ferguson before a meeting between the two teams at Old Trafford At some point during the 12 years, Roy Keane played for the club.
It was the Irishman who first drew public attention to the ironic and dismissive exhortation contained in one of his autobiographies, as a nod to the “brilliant” assessment of his former manager according to which there was not much more to say for a match against opposition so particularly famous in English football for their ability to inexplicably capitulate than the adjective used to describe their seemingly endless cycle of extremely wobbly performance is actually named after them. Again and again, Spurs pulled one of their finest performances of the Premier League era out of the bag against the reigning champions, having already managed to lose what almost everyone assumed would be a home gift against Ipswich Town. Buoyed by their confidence, they will approach their next high-profile match expecting to win at home in a game they will almost certainly lose because “guys, it’s Tottenham” and that’s what Tottenham does.
In the 15 years since Juande Ramos, the last man to mastermind the club’s victory, was unceremoniously kicked out of White Hart Lane, Tottenham have had eight full-time managers, each of whom has tried to ‘insert something resembling a backbone into this ever-evolving but ever-fragile team of constantly underperforming show ponies and questionable big-game temperaments. And for one man and in different ways, Harry Redknapp, André Villas-Boas, Tim Sherwood (was it a dream?), Mauricio Pochettino, José Mourinho, Nuno Espírito Santo, Antonio Conté and Postecoglou failed. But while Big Ange has given himself more time to find a way to eliminate the fragility for which Tottenham have long been synonymous with his team, this season’s results already suggest he is unlikely to succeed.
Between them, Ipswich and Crystal Palace have won two games this season, both victories against a Spurs side who have won nine and lost 10 of their last 20 league matches. In three different competitions over the past 30 days, Tottenham have beaten Manchester City twice, come second in a five-goal thriller in Turkey and lost to two of the bottom three teams in the Premier League. “When you hear fans and neutrals talk about Tottenham, they often say: ‘Soft, weak… bottle it, Spursy – all that bullshit’, I think the last two weeks show we could be going in one direction slightly different,” he reflects. James Maddison, last September, after he and his team-mates secured a victory against Sheffield United and went unbeaten in a north London derby. All this bullshit? Ahead of Saturday’s home defeat to Fulham – and this certainly won’t help – the good ship Spursyness appears to have returned to course.
LIVE ON A MAJOR WEBSITE
Join John Brewin for live Bigger Cup coverage from Manchester City 5-0 Feyenoord at 8pm GMT, while Niall McVeigh will be on call at the same time with goal updates from the day’s other matches.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
Olaf Janssen will be the first professional football coach to be heard on the microphone on December 8. His coaching orders, his discussions and his speeches will be heard with a certain delay. » – football fans watching Magenta Sport in Germany will be treated to the near-live whiffs and jeffs of Viktoria Köln’s tanned manager when they take on VfL Osnabrück in the Third Division. What does “hit it” mean in German? [eff]broadcast channel”?
RECOMMENDED SEARCH
Here’s David Squires on… Manchester City receive a visit from Swindon Town’s resident exorcist, Ian Holloway.
RECOMMENDED PURCHASES
You can get your own copies of the latest David Squires cartoons. And Big Website’s Football Bookstore has the latest from David himself, as well as those from Miguel Delaney, Nick Miller and Jeff Stelling.
DAILY FOOTBALL LETTERS
Hooray! A “pioneering” project. If there’s one thing a multi-billion dollar industry like the Premier League desperately needs, it’s being able to secure government-subsidized work for people who “will lose their benefits if they refuse to take opportunities”. And note, of course, that opportunities means “work or training.” Or, as we used to call it, “a general dog body, making tea and photocopying”” – Noble Francis.
Manchester City becomes “Spursy” (letters from yesterday’s Football Daily)? Please! City invented this concept. Nobody remembers the “typical city”? We have always known how to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory” – Pat Condreay.
Firstly, congratulations to Spurs’ Guglielmo Vicario for keeping a clean sheet against City despite playing. one hour on a broken ankle. Now that he’ll be recovering from surgery for a little while, will he live Vicario-usly thanks to Fraser Forster? Hell, I’m not even a little bit sorry” – Derek McGee.
When you spell out a phrase, such as “fair market value,” followed by its parenthetical abbreviation (FMV), it is common to then use said abbreviation in any subsequent use of the phrase. In your article on the Premier League match against Manchester City (Friday’s Football Daily), you did not follow this protocol and spelled out “fair market value” in the following paragraph, wasting a number of keystrokes. And I wasted something like 465 writing this email” – John Ellen.
Send letters to the.boss@theguardian.com. Today’s Letter of the Day winner is… Derek McGee, who lands his own Football Weekly product. The terms and conditions of our competitions can be viewed here.
